Out of a total number of 460,941 registered candidates who sat for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), 424,092 candidates have qualified to benefit from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government’s flagship ‘Free Senior High School’ policy.

The policy takes off by the middle of this month when President Akufo-Addo launches it, possibly at the West Africa Secondary School, Adenta.

On Thursday the president heralded the implementation of the programme in the next couple of weeks with the unveiling of the logo.

The number of qualified candidates to be selected through the Computerized School Selection Placement System (CSSPS) for enrolment into their various choices of public second cycle schools represents 92 percent of the overall number of candidates who wrote the BECE.

This was contained in a statement issued on August 31, 2017 by the Ghana Education Service (GES) and signed by its Acting Director General, Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa.

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Meanwhile, a total of 36,849 candidates, representing 8 percent of the total number of students, who wrote the examination organized by the West African Examination Council (WAEC), failed to gain placement into the various senior high schools.

The statement further indicated that during the placement process, 267,327 candidates secured places in schools of their choices while 150,770 candidates could not get their selected schools.

However, these candidates, according to the statement, have been given the opportunity to choose schools they prefer online in order for them to also enjoy the ‘Free SHS.’

The statement further indicated that the academic year starts on September 11 and it is expected that all first-year students will report on the said date.

Government estimated that some 1.7 million students would benefit from the programme with an anticipated GH¢3.6 billion yearly commitment that will lift the total burden of fees from parents and guardians.